Lakers News: Kyrie Irving Opts To Remain With Mavericks On Huge Deal, Shuns LA

The Kyrie-to-LA rumors are dead... for now.

Kyrie Irving has made his decision on his free agency. Shams Charania of The Athletic reports that the eight-time All-Star point guard has re-signed with the Dallas Mavericks on a three-year, $126 million deal with a player option in the third year. This now puts to bed all the talk about Irving heading to the Lakers. At least for now.

Because that agreement is a smidge below Irving's absolute maximum annual contract, the Mavericks will now have access to the full $12.4 million non-taxpayer's mid-level exception, which it can use to sign a high-level role player. 

The LeBron James-Irving reunion will not happen this summer after all. It was always going to be an uphill battle for the Lakers to get Irving this particular offseason, and now the team's rumored pursuit is officially over.

However, don't discount the rumors to start back up at some point. If the Mavericks struggle out of the gates and Irving isn't happy, he could ask to be traded. It's happened two times before in his career, after all.

It has been rumored that the Lakers may look to bring back point guard D'Angelo Russell on a short term deal for multiple reasons. One reason being that they can use him as trade bait down the line for an upgrade. Maybe Irving could be the upgrade if things go south for Dallas. 

This situation is over for now and the Lakers can now move on.

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